Run-off poll for President likely

A voter keeps an ear out for the latest preliminary results in the capital, Freetown. Photo / Reuters

FREETOWN - Sierra Leone counted votes yesterday from its first elections since United Nations peacekeepers left two years ago and early results showed a run-off may be needed to choose the new President.

Voters turned out in huge numbers for the weekend's presidential and parliamentary elections billed as a test of stability after an 11-year civil war fuelled by the traffic in "blood diamonds" and infamous for its brutality.

Unofficial results showed Ernest Bai Koroma of the opposition All People's Congress comfortably ahead in Freetown and the north. The ruling Sierra Leone People's Party candidate, 69-year-old Vice-President Solomon Berewa, was performing more strongly in the south, home of the Mende ethnic group.

- Reuters